Why Old People Become Rigid in Their Ways
We all know old people (70+) who have become rigid in their ways. Why does this happen? A few reasons:
When you know you have a lot of time left, you invest the mental effort to try out new technologies (like WhatsApp), new tools, new approaches, and new ways of thinking, because you’ll have to deal with the world. So you better equip yourself. By contrast, when a person feels that they don’t have much time left, the ROI of learning new ways is lower. So, less time left makes old people rigid.
At work, a 57-year-old would deal with younger people, whether team members or customers. For example, a cashier would recognise that electronic payments are very common nowadays, that cards can be tapped without needing a PIN, that UPI exists, that there are multiple UPI apps, that you pay by scanning QR codes, that the same QR code works with any app… In addition to exposure to younger people, who bring younger ways of thinking, there’s also exposure to a varied set of people with different behaviors and thinking. All this keeps one mentally fresh. In addition, at work, since you’re being paid, you’re expected to not give undue weight to your preferences and idiosyncrasies and get the job done. After retirement, this forcing function goes away. Old people are quick to walk away from an opportunity, or a new tool like Google Pay, or a car trip, because they want everything done their way. So, stopping work makes old people rigid.
In the US, people disagree openly, which helps the other side see a different point of view. On the other hand, in India, people disagree silently, which deprives old people of a fresh perspective that’s more appropriate for today. Further, in the US, age doesn’t garner respect, so people feel free to help an old person rethink his views, unlike in India, where old people are put up on a pedestal. So, Indian culture makes old people rigid.
Changing one’s point of view on anything is painful. For example, if one has always paid by cash, then paying by UPI requires effort, including to overcome fears (“If I use UPI, hackers will empty my bank account”). It’s natural to have fears about something new1. Learning new things also requires unlearning old beliefs. This makes us feel like a beginner. It makes us feel foolish, which nobody wants. We want to feel at ease, fluent with whatever we’re doing. Changing one’s point of view is painful. After having experienced this pain throughout one’s life, an old person may say “enough!”2 In fact, being lazy, whether physically or mentally, is the default state of every human and animal.
For all these reasons, old people become rigid.
If we didn’t, the human race wouldn’t have survived till now.
But being rigid about doing things the old way exacerbates decline. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains, the human mind is anti-fragile: it requires challenges to stay fresh. Not changing one’s mind is easier, but leads to decline, just as sitting on your sofa all day is easier than exercising, but leads to decline.